What is involvement?
Why you should get involved
What can I get involved with?
Frequency of Involvement
Belfast Trust Involvement Network
Methods of involvement
Our commitment to you
How to get involved – contact our Team
What is involvement?
Personal and public involvement (PPI) is a term used to describe a process that supports service users, carers, families and the wider public to have a voice in the planning, commissioning, review and evaluation of health and social care services. Personal and Public Involvement has been a statutory duty for all health and social care providers in Northern Ireland since 2009.
Belfast Trust is dedicated to providing high quality health and social care to everyone. To help us do this, we are committed to working in partnership with people who use our services.
Personal and Public Involvement has been a statutory duty for all health and social care providers in Northern Ireland since 2009: Health and Social Care (Reform) Act (Northern Ireland) 2009.
Why you should get involved
As a service user or carer, you will have ‘lived’ experiences of the services delivered by the Trust. By getting involved, you can share your knowledge, skills and experiences – to help us improve our services for everyone.
What can I get involved with?
There are many ways you can become involved with our services. Different methods are used to help enable and support people to share their experiences. The methods used will depend on how people may wish to be involved and how much they wish to be involved.
Examples of ways to get involved in our work and services include:
- Developing (and responding to) surveys and questionnaires
- Providing feedback
- Taking part in one-to-one or group interviews
- Taking part in focus groups, service user or carer groups
- Responding to consultations
- Co-Production (this is an approach whereby Health and Social Care staff, service users, carers and the public share power to plan and deliver services together, recognising that all partners have equal contributions to make, in order to transform the Health and Social Care)
Frequency of Involvement
Belfast Trust welcomes engagement from all service users and carers. It is up to you how much, or how frequently, you would like to become involved in our work based on your own commitments and circumstances. We will endeavour to accommodate your availability and access needs – to support you engaging with our services. Your input may be on a ‘one-off’ basis, or via a more regular commitment based on the service(s) you have experience of.
Belfast Trust Involvement Network
Belfast Trust has a virtual involvement network. The purpose of the network is to provide opportunities for people to get involved. The involvement network shares information and supports service users and carers to become involved in improving services within Belfast Trust. This supports our overall aim of working in partnership with service users and carers to plan, review, improve and evaluate the services which the Trust provides.
Service users and carers who register with the involvement network will:
- Be kept informed about involvement work across Belfast Trust e.g. through the ‘Involving You’ newsletter
- Find out about involvement opportunities within Belfast Trust and how to take part
- Be supported to get involved
Joining the network is be best way to become involved in our work. You can register to join the involvement network by completing our Involvement Network Registration form.
Methods of involvement
To get involved, we are asking that you have:
| Recent experience of being a Trust service user or carer. | An interest in improving services for all, based on your experience. | Willingness and commitment to attend meetings and or working groups. | An open mind and respect for others opinions. | The ability to see the ‘big picture’ so that your input can impact everyone. |
Our commitment to you
We will provide:
- An outline of your role and responsibilities as a service user or carer
- Induction – to help support your knowledge about Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and what involvement entails
- Information about the project/service you will be involved with
- A named person for queries or support
- Reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses
- Training (as identified)
- The ability to step down, or change your mind about involvement, at any time
How to get involved – contact our Team
For further information or to register to get involved, i.e. join the Involvement Network, you can either:
- You can register to join the involvement network by completing our Involvement Network Registration form
- Talk to a member of the Personal and Public Involvement team by telephoning 028 9504 5476
- Email the team at ppi@belfasttrust.hscni.net